dMolecular diagnostic tools have been used increasingly in the characterization of the transmission of cryptosporidiosis and microsporidiosis in developing countries. However, few studies have examined the distribution of Cryptosporidium species and Enterocytozoon bieneusi genotypes in AIDS patients receiving antiretroviral therapy. In the present study, 683 HIV-positive patients in the National Free Antiretroviral Therapy Program in China and 683 matched HIV-negative controls were enrolled. Cryptosporidium species and subtypes and Enterocytozoon bieneusi genotypes were detected and differentiated by PCR and DNA sequencing. The infection rates were 1.5% and 0.15% for Cryptosporidium and 5.7% and 4.2% for E. bieneusi in HIV-positive and HIV-negative participants, respectively. The majority (8/11) of Cryptosporidium cases were infections by zoonotic species, including Cryptosporidium meleagridis (5), Cryptosporidium parvum (2), and Cryptosporidium suis (1). Prevalent E. bieneusi genotypes detected, including EbpC (39), D (12), and type IV (7), were also potentially zoonotic. The common occurrence of EbpC was a feature of E. bieneusi transmission not seen in other areas. Contact with animals was a risk factor for both cryptosporidiosis and microsporidiosis. The results suggest that zoonotic transmission was significant in the epidemiology of both diseases in rural AIDS patients in China.

There is profound interest in knowing the degree to which China's institutions are capable of protecting its natural forests and biodiversity in the face of economic and political change. China's 2 most important forest-protection policies are its National Forest Protection Program (NFPP) and its nationallevel nature reserves (NNRs

China is credited with undertaking some of the world's most ambitious policies to protect and restore forests, which could serve as a role model for other countries. However, the actual environmental consequences of these policies are poorly known. Here, we combine remote-sensing analysis with household interviews to assess the nature and drivers of land-cover change in southwestern China between 2000-2015, after China's major forest protection and reforestation policies came into effect. We found that while the region's gross tree cover grew by 32%, this increase was entirely due to the conversion of croplands to tree plantations, particularly monocultures. Native forests, in turn, suffered a net loss of 6.6%. Thus, instead of truly recovering forested landscapes and generating concomitant environmental benefits, the region's apparent forest recovery has effectively displaced native forests, including those that could have naturally regenerated on land freed up from agriculture. The pursuit of profit from agricultural or forestry production along with governmental encouragement and mobilization for certain land usesincluding tree planting-were the dominant drivers of the observed land-cover change. An additional driver was the desire of many households to conform with the land-use decisions of their neighbors. We also found that households' lack of labor or financial resources, rather than any policy safeguards, was the primary constraint on further conversion of native forests. We conclude that to achieve genuine forest recovery along with the resulting environmental benefits, China's policies must more strongly protect existing native forests and facilitate native forest restoration. Natural regeneration, which thus far has been grossly neglected in China's forest policies, should be recognized as a legitimate means of forest restoration. In addition, social factors operating at the household level, notably the pursuit of profit and conformation to social norms, should be harnessed to promote better land-cover, biodiversity, and environmental outcomes. More generally, for China and other countries to succeed in recovering forests, policies must clearly distinguish between native forests and tree plantations.

Aim: China's Grain for Green Program (GFGP) is the largest reforestation programmein the world and has been operating since 1999. The GFGP has promoted the establishment of tree plantations over the restoration of diverse native forests. In a previous study, we showed that native forests support a higher species richness and abundance of birds and bees than do GFGP plantations and that mixed-species GFGP plantations support a higher level of bird (but not bee) diversity than do any individual GFGP monocultures (although still below that of native forests). Here, we use metabarcoding of arthropod diversity to test the generality of these results. Location: Sichuan, China.Methods: We sampled arthropod communities using pan traps in the land cover types concerned under the GFGP. These land use types include croplands (the land cover being reforested under the GFGP), native forests (the reference ecosystem as the benchmark for the GFGP's biodiversity effects) and the dominant GFGP reforestation outcomes: monoculture and mixed-species plantations. We used COI-amplicon sequencing ("metabarcoding") of the arthropod samples to quantify and assess the arthropod community profiles associated with each land cover type.Results: Native forests support the highest overall levels of arthropod species diversity, followed by mixed-species plantations, followed by bamboo and other monocultures. Also, the arthropod community in native forests shares more species with mixed-species plantations than it does with any of the monocultures. Together, these results broadly corroborate our previous conclusions on birds and bees but show

Heat waves are increasing with global warming and have more dramatic biological effects on organisms in natural and agricultural ecosystems than mean temperature increase. However, predicting the impact of future heat waves on organisms and ecosystems is challenging because we still have a limited understanding of how the different components that characterize heat waves interact. Here we take an experimental approach to examine the individual and combine consequences of two important features that characterize heat waves: duration of successive hot days and recovery days between two hot spells. Specifically we exposed individuals of a global agricultural pest, the aphid Sitobion avenae to different heat wave scenarios by factorially manipulating the number of extreme hot days versus normal days and altered which period individuals experienced first in their life cycle. We found that effects of heat waves were driven by a delicate balance of damage during hot periods versus repair during normal periods. Increasing the duration of hot days in heat waves had a negative effect on various demographic rates and life‐time fitness of individuals, but magnitude of this effect was typically contingent on the temporal clustering of hot periods. Importantly, this interaction effect indicates that changes in the temporal distribution of extreme hot versus normal days can strongly alter the performance of organisms and dynamics of populations even when the total number of hot days during a given period remains unchanged. Together, these results emphasize the importance of accounting for the temporal distribution and quantitative patterns of extreme temperature events for predicting their consequences of natural and agricultural ecosystems.

The black-and-white snub-nosed monkey Rhinopithecus bieti (Colobinae), categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, is endemic to the Trans-Himalayas (the Hengduan Mountains) of north-west Yunnan and south-east Tibet. To evaluate the species’ current status in Tibet we surveyed six sites in Honglaxueshan National Nature Reserve, believed to be the area's only remaining location of R. bieti. Sites were identified from previous surveys and interviews with villagers and local officials. Three sub-populations, with a total of >300 individuals, were located in conifer and evergreen broad-leaf forests, which together comprise 971 km2. One of the sub-populations, in Zhina, is a new discovery, and is the northernmost known sub-population of R. bieti. Identified threats to the species include habitat destruction through wood extraction, uncontrolled grass fires, cutting of oak Quercus aquifolioides branches, inappropriate attitudes to R. bieti when people carry out economic activities in the forest, and hunting. Opportunities for conservation include the existence of sacred mountains, the limited possibilities for agriculture, and the economic dependency of villagers on the forest. We recommend the development of a sustainable ecosystem to reduce pressure on R. bieti and its forest habitat, including use of solar energy for heating and cheap electricity for cooking to minimize dependence on firewood, introduction of techniques for high crop yields to improve food supplies, and release of some farmland for planting grass, which can be used to raise livestock in enclosures and thus reduce the cutting of oak.

No abstract

The eastern Xinjiang Basin is desperately short of water. Most rivers in the basin originate in the high eastern Tianshan, which has abundant precipitation and numerous alpine glaciers. Fieldwork conducted on three reference glaciers around Mt. Bogda in 1981 and suggests that they all strongly melt in summer, a process that has tended to accelerate in recent decades. Based on topographic maps from 1962 and 1972 and 2005/2006 . South-facing glaciers lost more of their area than those that are north facing, yielding an areal loss of 25.3% and 16.9% for southern and northern slopes of Mt. Bogda, respectively, and 12.3% and 6.6% for the comparable slopes of Mt. Harlik. Glaciers smaller than 0.5 km 2 in area experienced the strongest retreat, whereas glaciers larger than 2 km 2 in area experienced gentle recession but may be the main contributors in the future to river runoff. Glacial ablation in eastern Xinjiang tends to be strong, and the water resources in this region are deteriorating. Also, a heavy reduction in the capacity of the local karez system, as well as a significant change in river runoff, can be related to glacial retreat. Combined, this will adversely affect the downstream city of Urumqi and the Turfan Basin. Climate change is of great concern the world over, particularly regarding the effect of humanity on the existing environment and vice versa. Under continued warming over the last several decades, alpine glacier retreat has accelerated. Surface melting has occurred even on high-altitude glaciers [1]. Moreover, about 75% of the fresh water of the world comes from glaciers [2], thus retreating glaciers will have a strong influence on the regional hydrologic balance and economic sustainability. Climate warming, regardless of whether it is caused by anthropogenic factors or by nature, has led to strong global glacier recession. In fact, changes in alpine glaciers are one of the best natural indicators of climate change because a small change in climatic parameters will result in pronounced geometric changes in glacier shape and size. Many studies show that strong glacial wastage has been the major trend [3,4] over the period from 1993 to 2003 during which time sea level has risen about 0.77 ± 0.18 mm as a result, primarily, of that glacier melting [5]. Using two climate models, sea level is estimated to rise 0.046 m and 0.051 m as a result of mountain glaciers and ice caps melting by 2100 [6]. The estimate of China's potential contribution to cryospheric change is a sea level rise of 0.14-0.16 mm a 1 , of which the contribution of meltwaters from glaciers is assessed at about 0.12 mm a 1 [7]. The problems associated with strong mountain glacier melt are glacial hazards such as glacial lake outburst floods and